Jimmy's GM food fight

Pig farmer Jimmy Doherty will return to UK television screens tonight in a documentary exploring the realities behind GM food.

Doherty, a one-time scientist and poster boy for sustainable food production spent half a year travelling around the world on a one-man mission to discover if GM crops really can feed the world.

His journey - which will be aired tonight at 9pm on BBC Two - takes him from the vast soya plantations of Argentina to the traditional Amish farms of Pennsylvania and from the cutting-edge technology of the GM laboratories to the banana plantations of Uganda.

Doherty, a farmer whose rare breed free-range pig farm was featured in the BBC Two series Jimmy's Farm, said: "People look at the way I farm and assume that I'd be opposed to GM technology. But my attitude towards GM is more complicated than that.

"I trained as a scientist; I was studying for a PhD in entomology when I started the farm, and I'm fascinated by genetic technology. It could be an incredibly powerful tool if it's used properly.

"So I've spent the last six months travelling around the world to investigate GM crops. I wanted to find out if they had a role to play in our agricultural systems or whether the environmental and health concerns make it too risky."